Two large new releases by the Oracle Corporation that I’ve written about the last few days, Oracle Application Express 4.0 and Oracle BPM Suite 11g, got me thinking. The one focused at delivering Web 2.0 interfaces in an extremely short amount of time, the other on combining static business processes with Enterprise 2.0 capabilities. What will happen when we combine the two?

Oracle Application Express came a long way from simply developing Database applications. APEX version 4.0 gives us a wide variety of additional feature in order to really combine the fast delivery of applications within a Service Oriented Architecture, SOA. Building an APEX application on top of web services isn’t new (we’ve done it before), but with APEX 4.0 it just gets simpler. REST assured.

This means that the days that APEX will only run on data that’s inside the database are really over. Of course, this is still (and will be) the main implementation of the tool. But we don’t have to anymore. Web services will give us the possibility to combine data from different sources and finally give end users a real interface on their business.

Looking at the power of Oracle’s BPM Suite 11g, we can also model these web services according to the business process that it will support. The combination of the two would mean that we can give end users a personalized web interface on their own business processes. The BPM Suite (read: BPEL and OSB) will provide the APEX application with relevant data and authorization on that data.

Think about it: a universal interface for the business, changed and developed in short iterations, that provide access to data based on the role of the user. Managers that get insight from the progress of certain processes while, in the same application, the sales manager uses data from his sales management application and CRM. Think about it.

Combining the two Oracle product will give us a much appreciated combination of complete application integration, modeled business processes and interactive and intuitive web interfaces. What other large possibilities would you see?

Yesterday was a great day: Oracle Application Express 4.0 got released. But not a great night. At least, if you measure nights in amount of sleep. The new Oracle software is so impressive and extensive I wanted to play with it all night. And why?

Because I fell in love with it all over again. Some of the new features in the new release of Oracle Application Express are so well formed they really are a lot of fun to play with. The developers’ interface is very well rewritten and gives the developer a lot more ‘sense’ to what he is doing. This makes developing in APEX even more fun than it already does. I’m really looking forward to be doing my first extensive development project in Application Express to get a feel of what this Team Development is really about.

The new templates in Oracle Application Express are the bomb. They offer much more capabilities to the end user than it did before and, in combination with Dynamic Actions, we really can develop something that has the end user in it’s main focus. User Experience entered the world of Oracle Application Express big time.

Looking at the new software I really do believe that Oracle Application Express got a whole new focus. Where in the first years the main focus was on Access migration and simple departmental database applications, we finally evolved to a full grown Rapid Web 2.0 Development Platform.

Where is the main focus shift in Oracle Application Express 4.0 according to you? And are you as much in love with it as I am?

Since some years the Rapid Application Development platform of Oracle, Oracle Application Express, has gained more and more fans around the globe. I like it, and so do many others. Since today the new main release is available on the Oracle Technology Network for download.

Mike Hichwa, vice president of Software Development at Oracle, calls it the most significant release yet as it adds more features than before and it pushes the platform far further than previous releases. And it does. APEX 4.0 really kicks the functionality and therefore business value to the next level.

Web 2.0 is the main focus on this release. Offering various improvements for both developer as well as business users. Dynamic actions are the real deal. Offering end users great desktop-like functionality without the hassle of developing complex JavaScript and AJAX. This means that we can deliver more functionality to the end user within a shorter amount of time.

Where the 2008 3.1 release of Oracle Application Express offered the great new functionality of Interactive Reports to us, creating a way where end users could consolidate and order information themselves, End User Computing takes a quantum leap in APEX 4.0 with the new ‘Websheets’ functionality. Websheets offer end users a web environment where they can adjust, create and read data within a group of people, with no development needed.

End users now can really become part of the development process themselves. More examples will come to you in the next couple of days. If you haven’t already: download APEX 4.0 from the Oracle Technology Network now.

Alright, APEX has been marketed as the Access killer. This, of course, is not entirely true. When we take a look at some real live implications of Oracle’s Application Express, it is put into action for developing new applications, within an Oracle environment. Not for killing Access within an organization. APEX can be put into action when we take a look at other applications that are developed outside of the grasp of the IT department. But then we need to take more into account than just the technology.

Some organizations have a large problem: they have some departments that develop their own applications. In the beginning not even such a bad thing, but there’s no control over them from the IT department, a lot of different technologies and there are people within an organization that have the sole knowledge of the application. (Imagine them go and stop working, there goes your support). But killing those apps isn’t simple, because they got there for a reason in the first place…

The apps are there because the people responsible for them have the knowledge that, when they would ask the IT department for functionality, they would have to wait months, have enormous costs, or simply wouldn’t get what they need. So they train ‘one of their own’ to do the job. A proliferation (is this the right word?) of applications is the outcome.

Now you see, just implementing APEX is not the solution to this problem, there’s a lot more to it. Oracle Application Express is a RAD tool, now we just need a RAD-able method for our project management. Or Agile. Technology in itself is rarely the solution to these kinds of organizational problems and challenges. The way an IT department works is the problem and no technology will be able to change that. APEX can facilitate this kind of change, but you still need to work on the approach to IT projects itself.

And when we have done this, a RAD tool like APEX in combination with an Agile approach and mindset, we can finally actually work together with the business on solutions and functionality they need, within a clear set of time and therefore developing the stuff they need. Only then there will be no more need for ‘self-help’ from non-IT departments in the application field.

Last time, I wrote about Software Development, done Sustainable. How to do this and where my thoughts go when looking on the topic. In this post an example. How does Oracle Application Express, APEX, help you to create a Sustainable Software Environment.

Two elements are to be considered. One is the, absolute necessary, runtime footprint. The other, at least just as important, is the development in APEX itself. As we noticed in the last post Sustainable Software Development is creating a solution that lasts, without stressing the elements of environment, resources and people.

During Runtime, in order to lower the complete energy footprint of the solution, we need to take a look inside Oracle APEX. The simplicity of the architecture of APEX, learns us that well working customized office applications don’t need to run on lot’s of designated servers. A simple database server is sufficient to serve an entire organization.

When we run the APEX applications on virtualized environment, or even in the cloud (like Amazon’s EC2), it’s even quite simple to manage the server’s resources. In other words: only run when you actually need it. Lot’s of energy is spilled running servers that don’t do anything.

During development we actually design and implement the solution. Using APEX, together with an Agile Approach, we can develop smart functionality in a short amount of time. These solutions are also very sustainable. APEX is completely based on the Oracle Database and PL/SQL, which both will still be here for quite some time.

Remote Development in APEX, which is done completely browser based, is another part that gives sustainability a chance. Developers are not bound to one location, therefore they don’t have to travel distances in order to develop, or to make a change in the features of the application. There aren’t a lot of development environments that offer the same possibilities, and therefore this is a major advantage of Oracle’s Application Express.

Possible the main point is recycling. Within APEX we have the possibility to re-use elements of our application within and in other applications. This means that we don’t have to code everything over and over again. Therefore we have the possibility to implement variations of functionality fast. With the plugins offered to us in APEX 4.0 we will have even more possibilities to re-use code and functionality.

Oracle APEX offers us the possibilities to create a Sustainable Software environment. Both in Runtime as during the development of functionality. Short, yet effective projects can be done with this tool, using an Agile approach.

There has been a lot to do about the Oracle acquisition of Sun Microsystems. I’ve found it an appealing time and last weeks announcements have been great. It’s all about innovation and more and more research and development. Oracle, or at least it seams that way, really is into it for the win.

One great example is the future of the OpenOffice.org Suite. Oracle now has a fully fledged office suite in hand that makes them an even bigger competitor for Microsoft. To say that they now have their missiles aimed at the software giant is a bit too much in my opinion, but for the enterprise solutions part it certainly makes a point.

With ‘Oracle Cloud Office’ Oracle will develop a complete office suite, based on open standards, that will be tightly integrated with other Oracle parts of their enormous stack, Mainly integration with Oracle’s BI Suite, OBIEE, and WebCentre Suite will mean some great changes. Now user interaction will be even better. Especially the potential with integration, somewhat like the integration of Microsoft Office and SharePoint Server, will set the lines.

The new, soon to be expected if we might want to believe the rumors, Oracle Cloud Office Suite, there will be a complete orifice suite that works on the desktop (all operating systems as OpenOffice does now), the web (I hope it will work as great as Google Apps) and mobile (let’s hope for an iPad application). This means it will become the first office suite that will work on every platform. Especially, with the integration of WebCentre, with all your content on every platform.

When there will be large choice in connectors and extensions available for the new Office Suite, which can be developed in Oracle Jdeveloper, the horizon stretches further and further. What can you all do when we have connectors to the Oracle Database, SOA integration, tightened integration with Oracle BI and BI Publisher? What to think of a complete mashup with an Office Suite and Oracle Application Express? Wow, the thoughts and possibilities are endless.

It is confirmed; both Philips and Ricoh will present during our APEX and Productivity knowledge session on Thursday December 10th. They will show off what types of applications they build with Oracle Application Express using the Vision, Knowledge and Result approach and in what way this was achieved. CreativITy in real live.

During this knowledge session (register before it’s too late, there are still some seats available) Whitehorses, Philips and Ricoh will show, at the hand of two real projects we have done in the last few months, how to create something that seems complex and hard in a very short amount of time. Both projects are steered on a clear vision and with a defined deadline on delivery.

My colleagues and I will then show how this is done in APEX itself. What are the basics you will need to understand and how can you develop and deliver fast. Modular design and User Interface tweaking are some of the keywords we will use in this session. For both APEX developers who want to do more with their knowledge and managers who are looking for a fast solution to a seamlessly impossible problem this will be a useful and interesting session.

Finally a session on APEX and productivity with real customers and live situations!

Tomorrow and the day after there’s an APEX SIG meeting in Quebec and Montreal. David Peake will talk about the benefits of the next release of Oracle Application Express, 4.0, for mission critical systems. Because David is talking, this probably will be a well visited event in both Quebec and in Montreal. Louis-Guillaume Carrier-Bédard and his colleagues will have their own session during this Oracle APEX Special Interest Group meet up.

At their booth, Louis-Guillaume Carrier-Bédard will make a draw from business cards people turn in to win the best price ever to be imagined: my book! Because Louis-Guillaume helped with the book by doing some of the tough reviews I had to wrestle trough, he has a great insight in what the book offers to developers who want to convert from Forms to APEX.

I really do think it’s a great initiative and am curious how the day was and who ended up winning one of these great prices!

In a few weeks we will host a special knowledge session on Oracle Application Express and the possibilities to do real, productive jet complex projects with this brilliant tooling. During this session, which is held at our office from 3 till 6 PM, we will see two sessions by our clients to demonstrate that cooperate, pragmatism, the right tooling and a hard deadline will create effective and efficient projects that can even tackle really complex problems in an extremely short amount of time.

At this knowledge session we will (try to) demonstrate that Oracle’s APEX beneficial qualities can be implemented on large scale and that it is possible to work with a complex challenge and APEX together. At the hand of the client cases, which are both live in production, we will show how project management, software design and development go hand in hand if you use the right approach and the right set of knowledge. The team will benefit from some best-practices and a vision on how to develop large and complex APEX projects.

The session is all Dutch and will be held at our office in Nieuwegein. There are not many seats to be given so register before it’s too late!

In my previous post, about a.s.a.p. APEX, one of my readers points out that he (or she) doesn’t actually understands what I meant. The reader, who has the appropriate name of ‘My Name’, even offers me a job in order for him to understand what I meant! So, let me be a bit more clear about this subject in this post.
When we look at ‘as simple as possible APEX’, one of the most important parts is modular design. This means that we take as small as possible functional parts of the application we need to deliver and develop them is as small as possible development teams. One of the modules you will need in order to make this a success is the layout application. Inside this application we completely define the look and feel of all the applications that combined form the system we’re developing.

In this way we can focus on developing an application without worrying about the layout we need in the end. The layout application contains the templates we are going to use in the end. This means that the layout application is one of the first parts developed in a complete system. I usually create this application as follow:

First I, of course, create the application itself. Based on one of the standard Themes in APEX, like theme 4, I create my own theme. At this point I can delete all the templates in the theme I don’t want to be inside my project. For example, theme 4 contains 69 templates, you can imagine that you won’t need all these templates and that working with less templates can only improve the way the application looks. Developers have less choice between templates and this secures the overall continues look of the entire application. When you’re down to the templates that just want to use, I usually go down to about 10 templates, you’re ready to roll!

Now we get into the second step of our modular layout. This step includes creating all the underlying applications in the system we are about to develop. When we have set up an application within APEX, we create a theme based on the theme we just created in the layout application. Go to Shared Components, Themes and create a new theme inside the application and give it an appropriate name. Once done, click inside the task bar on the right of the screen to ‘Replace templates in this application with templates from another application.’ Select the layout application and then the theme you have created. Then we have the screen that we need: select for the appropriate templates the destination and the action ‘Replace / Subscribe’. This is it!

Once we have created some subscriptions to our own Theme we can edit the theme as we like it. I usually create a separate folder within /i/ by copying theme 4 and rename to the projects name. At this point we can edit the theme by pointing towards the right folder, renaming and editing the stylesheet (CSS) and editing the templates to make them look as we want. I won’t go into how this works in this post, but maybe later.

Once you have edited a template in the layout application you can publish this to all the applications that have a subscription on this template by simply clicking on the ‘Publish’ link inside the Subscription part of the Edit Template page. This is all the info you need to create an easy to maintain and develop layout inside an APEX application.